After going through a small round room with Shock Orbs in it, you’ll go up a tall shaft with fans trying to push you into Shock Walls. When you get to the very top, look in the background to spot two bots playing “Bot Fighter”. This is a reference to Street Fighter, Capcom’s famous fighting game franchise that debuted in 1987. While the original Street Fighter never came to PS1, Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter did.
Each hub world‚ like GPU Jungle‚ contains multiple pieces across its four areas. Collecting all pieces unlocks special rewards and contributes to trophy progress. Thorough exploration and careful navigation are key to finding every piece‚ ensuring you don’t miss any hidden gems.
Artifacts And Their Significance
Jump and hold over top of it to ignite it, and when it explodes it reveals this puzzle piece underneath. Puzzle Piece 3/4– At the next checkpoint there are some spots you can bounce on to climb up the platforms. Instead of going up, bounce to the opposite side to find this puzzle piece underneath the platform. Puzzle Piece 2/4 – Just after the next checkpoint, there are a bunch of explosive enemies on the ground you can light using your ship thrusters. When they explode they destroy the ground, revealing an area with this puzzle piece. Puzzle Piece 1/4 – Directly to the left of the first checkpoint there is a hole you can drop down with a bunch of coins and this puzzle piece in the middle.
As a result, it is a good thing that Astro’s Playroom comes with protection from it. Essentially, if Astro seems as though he is going to enter into a fall that will kill him, he will stop at the very edge. Players who make a bad jump at a bad time will find that it is perfectly possible for them to die from it. As such, if they are moving over a very narrow stretch of terrain, it might be best for them to stay ground-bound for the duration. It comes pre-installed on the PS5, which makes sense because it serves as a tech demo for the DualSense controller. Below you’ll find a list of all Artefacts locations in Astro’s Playroom.
If you want curated lists of our favorite media, check out What to Play and What to Watch. I can’t say I had very high expectations for Astro’s Playroom, a game that comes free with every PlayStation 5 console. I figured it might be a cute series of minigames, akin to the robot-themed minigames in the PlayStation 4’s pack-in title, The Playroom. That PS4 game was the sort of thing you boot up once, mess around with for 30 minutes, and then forget it exists. It’s a phenomenal thing, taken even further with adaptive triggers that provide meaningful, forceful feedback.
Dualshock 2 Controller
There’s a number of these suits where the gameplay switches to 2D and you turn into a robot on a spring, that’s directed via motion controls and a press of the adaptive triggers. There’s also a rocket that works in a similar manner but where you have to push past the resistance it offers to fire the jets – which can also set fire to fuses and the game’s Bob-omb stand-ins. The remaining three puzzle pieces are all up the platforming path created when you pull the wire that’s up the ramp between the Memory Meadow and Cooling Springs entrances. Sony Interactive Entertainment realized that shipping Astro’s Playroom as a free demo could set the bar high for what a true next-generation game should feel like.
What’s so remarkable about Astro’s Playroom is that while it’s ostensibly about showing off the features of the PlayStation 5, it’s also a fabulous platformer. Levels constantly throw me new toys to play with that totally change the way the level plays. Later levels include a spaceship (with rockets powered by the adaptive triggers) and a rolling ball (controlled by swiping the touchpad on the DualSense), intermingled with platforming sequences.
The shapes are what Knack is made of, and he was designed to showcase the power of the PlayStation 4 by being made up of thousands of objects. It’s a reference to Symphony of the Night thanks to the blonde hair. In one of the animations, the Bot will check a clock, referencing how Dracula only returns from the dead every 100 years. Castlevania is a very important game, as it alongside Super Metroid helped establish the Metroidvania genre.
It uses planar magnetic driver tech to deliver higher-quality sound compared to older earbuds. The case also allows you to charge the earbuds, which is what the light bar on the bottom of it is for. The “Slim” model of the PlayStation 5 is 30% smaller than the launch model and replaces the front USB “Standard-A” port with a second “Type-C” port. Perhaps the most significant adjustment is that the Digital Edition could be upgraded with a disc drive, which the launch model was unable to do.
To the right of the mine is a hole in the wall you can go into, then progress through the obstacles to find this artifact at the end. This Astro’s Playroom Collectible Guide lists everything in chronological order (all Artefacts and Puzzle Pieces in one playthrough). The PULSE Elite Wireless Headset is a premium version of the PULSE 3D Wireless Headset that carries over its noise-cancelling tech, and has the same magnetic driver tech as the PULSE Explore earbuds. luck8 is a boom arm microphone that can be used as an alternative to the DualSense’s microphone for voice chat. The PULSE Explores are PlayStation’s first wireless earbuds, and contain the same dual-microphone noise-cancelling technology from the PULSE 3D Wireless Headset.
As you get better at playing games, you’ll get better at being able to make things up as you go. Aside from being a technical showcase, Astro’s Playroom is also a game that was clearly made with a lot of care and passion. Each world is themed after a particular computer component, and one of the main goals is to collect secret items that are all pieces of classic PlayStation hardware. There’s even a trophy room where you can interact with them, using your little robot hands to turn on a gigantic PSP Go, or hop on the eject button of an original PlayStation to see the lid pop open. At its most basic, Astro’s Playroom is a fairly straightforward platforming game. You play as a cute little robot named Astro, exploring four different worlds set in a universe that appears to exist inside of a computer.
Each of them can be completed in around a minute or less and there’s a leaderboard to see how you stack up. This next area features a series of platforms rotating in rectangles. Head right and jump onto the first set, but instead of jumping left, ride the platform right. Artifact 1/2 “PS One LCD Monitor” – Continue along that path to the end where the group of bots are and pull the wires on the ground to reveal this artifact.
Artifact 1/2 “PS2 Game Disc” – After climbing up and reaching the next checkpoint, there is a spot you can blow into the mic which launches a satellite platform. Climb across to the next area and a large rock will crash into the platform. Puzzle Piece 3/4 – In the section after the falling circular wall pieces, you need to use the bar to jump up and over the wall to the right to reach this puzzle piece. Artifact 1/3 “PSVR Headset”– While jumping to the above puzzle piece, then is a swinging handhold you can grab after. Artifact 1/2 “PSVR Processor Unit” – After jumping to the top of the wall, go to the right and pull the wire to reveal this artifact. Puzzle Piece 1/4 – When climbing in the monkey suit, when you go up the first moving handhold there will be a yellow handhold on the left you can grab, which reveals a new area.
Even though Astro’s Playroom is relatively simple, it kept me entertained for about five hours with its array of challenges and entertaining Easter eggs. During Astro’s jaunt through the guts of the PS5, you run across all sorts of PlayStation references and memorabilia. From seeing bot versions of iconic characters (like Kratos and Solid Snake) to gathering old peripherals and consoles, the journey is full of “I recognize that! ” flashes that punctuate the lighthearted and approachable gameplay.